New requirements may include full-body exams. Senior flyers, after years of being forced to take off shoes, put everything on a moving belt and walk barefoot through an electronic doorway, must endure more.

If you look suspicious, even if a child or elderly and in a wheelchair, you must stand while the screener waves an electronic magic wand all over your body. Meanwhile, a nearby guard may be tossing every bit of clothing from your carry-on bag into the air, looking for forbidden-to-fly items. Now, the magic hand-held wand is often replaced by a large body scan contraption that looks through your clothing and shows the airport security staff your entire naked body, bones and all. Now you may be required to be patted and probed all over by a white-gloved screener.

If you refuse, the screeners were now authorized to prevent you from taking your flight. We’ve come a long way from flying the friendly skies to guilty of terrorism until we decide innocence by groping your genitals.

Of course, the American government has the responsibility to protect its citizens from real terrorists. Those in security are doing their best to fulfill that obligation. However, we can hope they realize that for every more thorough method of airport screening, the terrorists soon will quickly match it with more sophisticated ways of successfully compromising it.

No matter what the threats may be, and they are deadly real, there must be more humane ways to insure security. The goal of airport security should be to provide it for those who just want to travel safely and unmolested to their destinations.